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Squeezing the hand on her hip, Spacewarp declined to reply to Silent's answer. Her Cybertron was dormant, not necessarily dead. The dormant could be woken, but the dead could not be risen. The innumerable dead orbiting her home in a massive set of rings, the gradual social collapse, and the Angolmois slowly sapping the core of its strength; her own Cybertron was spiraling to its destruction. Spacewarp would've been living long enough to see the end of a civilization had she not been spirited away to a different universe. She wanted to lash out, to say that despite the state of this universe's Cybertron, it was still a testament to something worth fighting for. For Skyhook and herself, they had nothing. They were in a time and place in which everyone that had sacrificed themselves to stop Unicron now meant nothing. To have everyone you've held, every friend you've had suddenly amount to a zero sum, it was heartbreaking to say the least. Silentsky didn't deserve that lecture, though.
Her next statement knocked Spacewarp out of her daze, as Silentsky was essentially inviting her to prove her point. "If you think a dying world and dead colonies would be a better alternative to these Decepticons, I think we'd need to have a chat. But... you're right about the other Decepticons. We had whole fleets of vessels, armadas of Decepticons. We didn't fight for personal vendettas against the Autobots, not at first."
Spacewarp had to admit, she didn't think she'd feel so somber when discussing their home. "We didn't use Vehicons... you knew the name of every soldier who died next to you, or every squadmate shot down while flying beside you. We had honor, we were a family."
She stopped to reflect on a few choice memories, before finally drawing to a close.
"It doesn't matter now. In a few short cycles we'd all be dead, anyway. The Dark Energon from Unicron's remains poisoned Cybertron's core, and her people. If the rapid cooling of the planet's core doesn't get us, then the hordes of undead will."
"But now we're here, and we won't have to worry about that ever again."
Saying this, Spacewarp leaned over to place a small kiss atop Silent's helm.
Skyhook glanced towards Silentsky, watching as the other Femme placed her hand on the much smaller, and as far as she was concerned, adorable Spacewarp’s hips. She knew what she was trying to do, trying to keep her steady. Although it had been surprising to her to see Spacewarp so small, she felt like she has gotten used to seeing her in that size, despite preferring to see her bigger. Her own wings twitched behind her, a reaction from stopping herself, from even trying to stop her from touching her Idol. She knew Spacewarp was in a precarious position, and that if they weren’t too careful, she could fall, though she saw her wings.
She shook her head at the other Femme. It was clear to her, that Silentsky didn’t know the difference between dead and dormant, unlike the two Femmes from another universe. Spacewarp didn’t seem to be giving her that lecture, and she began to wonder, whether the difference was really important. Soon she told her about who her creator was, and nodded to her response. “Indeed, he told me himself, when Spacewarp brought me to him. Here, I am an ordinary soldier, which is fine with me,” she told her In all honesty, she didn’t care what her rank was, so long as she could kill Autobots. She really didn’t like Autobots, likely her hatred for them was likely higher than Spacewarps, she figured.
Skyhook listened as Spacewarp spoke about their Universe, and in all honesty, she couldn’t help but reflect on the other inhabitants, she wondered what they were doing now? Did they find Energon on the recorded location her group found? She honestly didn’t know.
She had to admit, she missed it, missed their universe, here it felt almost wrong to her. The Vehicons were the proof as far as she knew. But she was certain here, things could be fixed, could be better. “She’s right, here we likely won’t have to worry about that, things could be different, at least good different. “ She said adding her piece to the conversation
She turned and walked towards a monitor, and wordlessly she typed something and a moment later, Cybertron appeared on the Screen. She stepped back, and observed the picture, with an odd look on her face. Although she had always wanted to see this universe’s Cybertron, her duties prevented it. “Not dead…. Barren yes, but not dead,” she said out loud. Her optics trailed all over the place, trying to find the ring of the dead that wasn’t there. “There is hope, just have to win the war, and defeat the cowards,” she told them both.
Perhaps Silentsky was just being selfish, or maybe she was just projecting her own inner thoughts. Either way, she didn’t entirely agree with the two Seekers to some extent. She listened intently but that part of her still wanted to protest to some things far too much to agree, and for once her silence was forgotten.
“The Autobots were the catalyst that resulted in the war, that much I agree with and yes, the Decepticons originally had good intentions, but war, our war, changed a lot of ideals.” Silentsky explained to the two, her tone back to its normal state but still lacking emotion. “Megatron was the one that poisoned our planet during the later parts of the war, used Dark energon in the hopes of taking control along with the Decepticon forces. Somehow, the Autobots managed to reverse that so the planet is slowly healing. But if we don’t find the necessary amount of energy Cybertron is no better than a dead metal husk.” She didn’t know how much Spacewarp and Skyhook were aware of the history of her universe, but now seemed a good a time as any to share a small part of it.
Still, she shook her head and sighed, “Maybe it’s just me projecting my thoughts on the situation. But the Decepticons here...they lost that meaning years ago. Now, if you don’t pull your weight or you can’t help yourself you are nothing better than cannon fodder. The small kiss to her helm somewhat relaxed Silentsky, but not entirely. Because if she were to be truthful, she would admit then and there she did not believe in the cause, not like these two before her. She was a Decepticon for one reason only: survival. If she were to say such a thing it would likely be viewed as nothing more than treason on her part.
The war always found neutrals eventually and going neutral now would earn the ire of the DJD, something she didn’t quite want to deal with either.
“I hate the Autobots, don’t get me wrong. But if our side does win, don’t be surprised if I don’t jump for joy.” Silentsky broke her emotionless tone to a flat, bitter one as she reached back with her free hand to grab her spear-staff, which was worn and had seen much over the years. “Far as I’m concerned, Cybertron is dead to me, and there would be little reason to return personally.” Looking at the weapon in her hand brought many joyful and painful memories all at once, and all she could do was give her companion a gentle squeeze in response to the kiss at last, almost as if she was confirming Spacewarp was really there.
Spacewarp could practically feel the fractals in her spark pulsing, though not in regard to Silentsky. She was numb, her mind locked in a cycle trying to process the information she'd just been handed. Megatron had been the one to destroy their Cybertron, not Unicron, not the Autobots; just him. On the bright side, she wasn't living in an absolute quantum nexus. On the other hand, their leader was a depraved, power-mad despot who sought to crush his enemies at the expense of his allies's lives. That was not the Megatron she knew, and it was not the Megatron that had raised Skyhook either.
Wordlessly, Spacewarp hopped off of Silentsky's shoulder.
For the first time in a millennia, Spacewarp remembered. She remembered the sounds, the crunching and thrashing of metal being torn from the planet. The long forgotten pain she felt as her twin's spark was snuffed out made her collapse on the floor between the two seekers.
It was all going to happen again.
Except this time they'd brought on their own destruction with willful arrogance.
Spacewarp did her best to stand back up, visibly shaking in a mixture of anger and disbelief. She couldn't believe it. Megatron had singlehandedly destroyed their home, and yet the Decepticons still obeyed him in ignorance for what his actions had truly wrought. There were billions of questions she wanted answers to, and yet she couldn't find the words for any of them. She wasn't entirely speechless, however.
"Silent... are you telling me that your Megatron destroyed Cybertron with the very same force that Unicron used to kill our Cybertron..."
She was hopeful that they, the Decepticons could win this war, stop the Autobots and do something to help Cybertron. She was surprised how different this universe’s Cybertron appeared. Silently she returned to the Femme, as silent began to speak again. She was right, war changes a lot of things, She’d seen things during their wars back home she didn’t like. It was disturbing, how fear can change people, and cause havoc.
But what Silent had said next, had a huge reaction from her, stepping back as if she had been hit by some attack, shock plain to see on her faceplate. Her mouth opened, then closed, trying to say something, anything in response. The Cybertronian that looked like her father, had her father’s name, did it, used the very blood of the overly large bundle of annoyance and attitude to do that damage she had seen. “Frag me Flying!” she said out loud, practically shouted it, as she leaned against the wall.
Hearing that Megatron used Dark Energon was a shock, she knew her Megatron wouldn’t do that, he was better than that, more Honorable as far she knew, but this Megatron was the biggest clue, they weren’t in their home universe anymore.
Silent’s next words entered her audio receptors and she listened to her talk after the biggest bombshell of a news was given. She was surprised to hear that the Autobots had done something to Cybertron to reverse it.
From Silent’s next set of words, Skyhook got the impression she wasn’t very much loyal to the cause, though the femme didn’t care all that much either. She too wasn’t as loyal to the cause so much as Spacewarp and Megatron. One could wonder if she should be loyal to Megatron since he wasn’t her Megatron. She turned to Spacewarp as she began to speak, clearly unable to get over what she had heard previously.
By how Spacewarp reacted followed by Skyhook the reality quickly sank in, they had not known the full truth or scale of what had happened in this universe. Either someone had not informed them or had not said anything until now. Perhaps with good reason.
Their reactions made her spark sink, more so from the fact she had just dropped the biggest news on them and possibly shattering any chances for their views Cybertron could be saved. The brevity of her error in judging what she should have said made Silentsky look at the ground for a long moment in guilt. She really had not thought her words more carefully, speaking as if they would have known. Honestly, she had thought they did know, but she had been wrong.
Taking a deep intake however, Silentsky then slowly exhaled, slowly getting her thoughts together. She could salvage this, if even just a small bit. “Yes, he played a part in what happened to Cybertron. It wasn’t just the war that made our home uninhabitable, but also some of the more power-hungry Decepticons seeking even more power.” She explained, placing her spear-staff back where it belonged as she knelt down in front of Spacewarp. “It happened before I joined the Decepticons, so I do not know all the details, but I do know Megatron led the forces that caused the corruption. Gossip and news travels fast in this faction Spacewarp. And far as I’ve heard, there is more of the Dark energon here on the ship now.” It was the best she could do to tell them the truth. Because it was about as much as she knew and or heard, and there was no way of confirming for sure the extent to which Megatron has caused the poisoning of their home.
Still, she gently took the smaller Seeker’s hands in her own, giving them a firm squeeze. “Maybe I’m wrong, that what happened to your Cybertron won’t be repeated here and can be reverse, and you can live on a fully revived Cybertron once more. For your sake Spacewarp, I will hold onto that hope at least.” She assured her softly, retracting her face guard to place a gentle kiss on her forehead before glancing at Skyhook, “And you too of course, Skyhook. I am sorry for dropping such news so suddenly, I did not realize you two weren’t aware.”
She wanted nothing more than to be angry with her, but Spacewarp couldn't find the strength to do it. Silent didn't deserve her scorn, and the look upon her face confirmed it. She was doing her very best to assuage the fears of the two displaced Decepticons, even if Spacewarp didn't quite believe it. She squeezed Silent's hands and bent her head forward into the kiss, her temper soothed for but a moment. Getting a hold of herself, Spacewarp tried to address the topic with a bit more clarity than before.
"You said yourself that Cybertron was a dead husk; don't spare us the truth just to make us feel better about it," she said, her tone sounding almost as if she were pleading.
Spacewarp took a step back to rub her optics, still partially in shock. "But please tell me, at what point did the Autobots become such a terrible scourge that it necessitated using the power of the Universe Killer himself to destroy them?"
As she spoke she began to pace around, in a typical Spacewarp fashion. "Skyhook lost her sire to the Autobot leader, an Autobot robbed me of my Conjunx, and my sparkling of the chance at having a normal family." Spacewarp broke off from her speech for a moment, bashing her fist into the metal wall beside her, making a dent just a few sizes too big for someone of her stature.
"But NONE of that justifies destroying a planet just to settle a score! Hell, I'd go through that pain a thousand times more if it would've saved Cybertron from dying!"
At the end of it, the little Loadbearer simply felt winded and distraught, and the look on her face mirrored it. Spacewarp simply wanted to climb back in her armor, if only to keep what she was feeling at bay for a while. She couldn't turn her back on this, though; she had some serious contemplation to take care of.
Skyhook wondered why had nobody told them about this. No one had told them, or at least her about what Megatron had done as his part during the war on Cybertron. She honestly didn’t know why no one told them, did they even know? She listened as Silent spoke to them, from her words she gathered that she wasn’t sure if it truly had been Megatron. Her optics looked towards Spacewarp as she pleaded with her not to spare them the truth. Then back to Silent as she mentioned that it happened before she joined the Decepticons.
She turned her head back to Spacewarp as she spoke again, asking questions and mentioned their history with the Autobots, or rather their version of it. Yes, it was true, the Autobots took someone important from her, and she hated them for it. She had remembered hearing what the Autobots had done. Silently she shook her head as if it would remove the thoughts from her processor.
“She’s right,” she said, deciding to agree with their smaller Seeker. She thought about getting to the bottom of that particular subject, see if it was true. A part of her didn’t want to believe it, but she knew she would have to when she had been given proof that it was true.
She shrugged her shoulders a little. “Whether or not it does get revived, I’ll likely will be following Spacewarp.” she said, turning her attention to Spacewarp “if you don’t mind, but where ever you go, I’ll likely follow” she said and soon remembered what Silent had said about not celebrating if the Decepticons had won. She soon watched as Silent kissed Spacewarp again and wondered if the two were conjuxed as spouses, rather than good friends.
Silentsky wanted to bend to Spacewarp's pleas of not sparing the truth and a part of her wanted to hold back. In fact, she was incredibly conflicted after seeing their reactions, her wings flattening against her back in deep contemplation, her visor going dim slightly as she closed her optics. What should she do?
Before her she could hear Spacewarp pacing, her question making Silentsky open her optics once more, just in time to see Spacewarp's fist connect with the wall, causing her to wince a bit. What had she done? Guilt only seemed to overtake Silentsky once more, despite both trying to reassure her they just wanted to know the truth and Skyhook proclaiming she would sooner follow Spacewarp anywhere rather than the present Megatron. But after this, she herself didn't know where she stood, feeling she would have more than earned the anger Spacewarp was expressing for being so careless in what she had said.
"The truth is, I only know Megatron lead many of his campaigns personally, especially in unleashing dark energon upon our home stored away on the menace of a space station called Trypticon. As I said, I only know what I've personally seen and heard, there isn't much more I can tell you there." Silentsky's tone had returned to an almost deadpan, emotionless tone but remaining at a normal level. It was becoming the clear the young Seeker seemed to be shutting herself down, hiding behind the facade she had become use to. It was a feeble attempt for her to hold back her guilt and anger at herself for her actions. "And the reason Megatron started the Decepticons to begin with was due to the cast system we lived by."
Part of Silentsky wondered if Spacewarp and Skyhook ever had to deal with such a system, where you were assigned to one thing and expected to follow it. "It didn't use to be so bad in the beginning when Sentinel Prime led the Golden Age after the Quintessons attempted overthrowing Cybertron from under its nose." She was grateful for one other thing from her adoptive sire right about now, and that was him being such a history buff, an older bot before his death. "But Sentinel started to crackdown more on the castes, making the laws and regulations stricter and turning a blind optic to other things. So, the Decepticons decided to overthrow those oppressing the working and lower castes." Briefly she turned her gaze towards the screen Skyhook had pulled up, being reminded of her own late loved one.
"I lost my adoptive sire to the Autobots as well, when he was trying to aid a downed Decepticon. We were neutral then, but that was enough to drive me to this faction, because to me it confirmed that the Autobots didn't think first." Her tone remained emotionless, the femme shaking her head as she pushed herself to her feet. "But I think I've said more than my fair share of information today. I, again, apologize for being so brash with my words." Silentsky apologized, briefly expressing her deep regret before taking a step back from the two displaced femmes.
"I should go see what rounds I need to cover." She was still throwing up her emotionless facade but still trying to be polite in excusing herself. The damage was done and at the moment she felt less than worthy of sticking by with them after dropping such a reality bomb, especially Spacewarp.
Spacewarp, exhausted, sat and listened as Silent gave a very brief overview of her history. Her mind still reeling from processing such intense information, it felt as if she were only half-hearing it. To her, functionism felt like a dozen lifetimes ago. She remembered all the clashing restrictions and scathing insults that came with it, but it had largely fallen out of practice with the Decepticon coup. By the time the two seekers had left their home, the largest problems on anyone's plate were worrying about if they had enough energon to last the day; that, or the roving packs of Terrorcons.
Her mind briefly lingered on the fact that Silent became a Decepticon largely due to a lapse in judgement by a single Autobot, but she wasn't in the right universe to judge her.
Skyhook had largely been taking the news in a much more professional manner, something that impressed Spacewarp. The side effect to being raised by a head of state, she imagined. By comparison she'd flown off the handle completely, although the little loadbearer wondered how she might've reacted differently had she been in her armor. Right now she was simply a little ball of tension and worry, so much so that she was worried about generating a gravitational pull by sheer stress alone.
Before long she noticed that Silent had abruptly decided to depart from their conversation, alone. In fact, Spacewarp noticed that she'd been acting almost exactly the same way as when they'd first met; closed off, locked up, and distant. Silentsky wasn't one of her subordinates, some cadet that could be ordered around casually. She wanted her to just turn around and come back; she couldn't bear to process this alone, and from the sound of it Skyhook was ready to turn tail already.
Spacewarp did a double-take at the dent she'd left in the wall, then again at her clenched fist. Oh. So that's the impression she's under. She was blaming herself, then. Without taking the time to think, Spacewarp simply started after Silent, breaking away from Skyhook. She wasn't used to hearing the sound of her short legs running across a metal floor. If the circumstances were different, she might've even laughed at it. Lacking the surface area, or the height, to stop Silent conventionally, Spacewarp made the most of her present stature. She latched on to one of Silent's legs, almost like a sparkling, and refused to let go. "Please don't go. It's not your fault."
Skyhook silently watched as the femme she idolized paced, her own optics shifting away from her, towards Silentsky. She saw the darkened visor, She chose at that moment to remain silent herself, letting them talk since he had said her piece on the topic. Things seemed silent before the other began speaking again, her optics widened as she remembered hearing about Trypticon. She tried to think back to what she had heard, and read before more history was imparted to them. The cast system had been imparted to her, during the history lessons she was required to take. Her Megatron wanted her to be knowledgeable about their homeworld.
For the most part, she didn’t really remember the cast system when she was a youngling, or a Sparkling, though she figured her father being who he was, and her body type, she would have likely been in the military cast or something like that. She contemplated what they had been told about the Decepticons here in this universe. “Father has said someone named Sentinel was an aftplate, seems this universes sentinel is the same way,” she said to herself.
She soon learned that Silentsky lost someone to the Autobots, which was why she was on the Decepticon’s side. She wondered something if history was changed and her Megatron was killed by the Decepticons, would she, Skyhook be with the Autobots? it wasn’t a thought she wanted to think about, even so, she couldn’t help herself but think about it. The sounds of movement caught her attention, and her processer processed her words before that. Spacewarp, had made an attempt at stopping her, and in any other time it would be funny, but right at that moment, she wasn’t in the mood to smile. In addition, if the two of them were conjunxed, she didn’t want Spacewarp to lose another friend, so she moved forward, and placed her hand gently on Silentsky’s shoulder if it was possible.
“Wait, please,” She told her, “She’s right,” she added when Spacewarp got the chance to speak. She hoped it worked and Silent did stop. She also didn’t want Spacewarp to fall off and get squashed, though she was certain that Spacewarp can fly even in this form of hers.
Silentsky stopped when she heard the rushed steps, smaller steps than she had become use to when it came to Spacewarp. It was only then did the younger seeker realize that Spacewarp was running after her, causing her to glance back over her shoulder in time to see Spacewarp's approach and latching onto one of her legs.
For a moment, Silentsky was left rather surprised and conflicted. She wanted to believe it wasn't her fault, that Spacewarp wasn't stressed because of her own words and explanations of this universe. But she couldn't shake those feelings of guilt and regret for what she had said. This experiment had quickly went from starting out decently to sour, and she felt rather responsible for most of it. Internally, Silentsky was telling herself to say it was her fault and tell them she needed space, that she didn't want to cause them any further spark ache than she already had. Yet, she couldn't bring herself to do such a thing.
Somehow, Spacewarp has broken down her usual tendency to silently shrug things off in such a short amount of time.
"I think you two are wrong in that regard." She finally answered softly, adamant that the two wouldn't convince her otherwise. "I should have thought about what I said before I spoke, especially since you two are new to this universe. I'm sure its a lot to process with all things consider." Letting out a soft sigh, Silentsky forced back those negative feelings gripping her spark and gently released herself from Spacewarp's grasp to face the two once more. Looking between the two she bowed her head apologetically, "I still will apologize for the information rush and distress, but I will remain here as long as you need me to." She assured towards the end, her wings shifting slightly to a more relaxed state, trying to become relaxed once more.
Straightening herself once more, she looked between the two Seekers, trying to bring back more emotion into her voice but there was still a slight deadpan to it, "If there is anything I can confirm, I will try to do so better than what I've done. I owe you that much." One thing was clear though, Silentsky seemed to be overthinking the whole thing on her part.
If there was ever a time that Spacewarp wanted to be capable of physically demolishing a figurative concept, it was right now. Blast Silentsky's sense of formality! There had to be a better way to get through to her than by just taking a sledgehammer to that wall of hers, which was a technique that the old captain was well-practiced in. For the first time in her life, Spacewarp needed to take things delicately.
She clenched her fists subconsciously as she was brushed off of Silent's leg, her size issue rearing its ugly head for a brief moment. As soon as she was separated however, Spacewarp found herself drawn right back in; she reached out to rest her hands on Silent's hips, which were roughly at optic-level with her. Spacewarp looked back up with a more determined look in her eye. "You don't owe us a damn thing."
"It's not your job to give us new femmes the whole universal orientation. That-" she said, pausing to point to the dented wall, "... that's the fault of leadership for skimming over the facts we should've known going into this. You just happened to be the one to pop the blister..."
Having gotten most of her thoughts off her chest, Spacewarp slowly withdrew her arms, letting them hang weakly at her sides. "I'm sorry, Silent; I didn't mean to get upset... you're not the one who killed Cybertron."
Sky hoped that eventually when things weren’t so serious that she could laugh, specifically at the image of Spacewarp as small as she was now, had been hugging the leg of someone much bigger. Even so, it seemed that Spacearp’s actions at least had an effect, and she saw her stop. She made her approach as she began speaking, saying that they both were wrong, and how she should have thought about what she had said before she had spoken to them. In hindsight, this would be true, she should have thought before she spoke, but Skyhook has done something like this before too, so she wasn’t as angry or something similar to her because of that.
Skyhook turned from Silent to Spacewarp and back as the two spoke. Sky tried to think of something she could add to this conversation now, but anything she might want to say was already said thanks to her Idol. She recalled, though how Megatron, this universe’s Megatron didn’t believe it when it was mentioned she was his daughter from another universe. She wondered how many in the faction believed the same thing.
A soft vent left her form as she moved her wheel toes muffling the movement a little as she did so. “Spacewarp’s right, you don’t owe us anything. I’d say she’s also correct about it not being your job either. “ She told her. She crossed her arms over her chest. She watched to reach over and pet Spacewarp but she stopped herself from doing that since she didn’t think Spacewarp would appreciate that.
Silentsky glanced between the two femmes for a moment, regarding them thoughtfully and surprised at Spacewarp coming right back to grab her hips. Even if they said it wasn’t her fault she still felt horrible for dropping such an information overload on them, something she figured they had known. And that was the problem. She had assumed rather than considered the extent of what they knew, something she couldn’t help kicking herself due to the gravity of what happened to their home.
Both Cybertrons were dead husks for very different reasons and she now feared what her words may have very well done.
“Alright.” She finally conceded as Spacewarp stepped back, seeing there was no getting around the two seekers’ arguments. They seemed convinced it wasn’t her fault so much as Megatron leaving out a vital detail. Perhaps with good reason. “Since you two seem so sure, I will drop it then. But I still am sorry, I should have thought before I spoke.” Her tone more of a genuine one as she rested a hand on Skyhook’s shoulder to emphasize her apology to first her before kneeling in front of Spacewarp, offering a faint smile. “I will try not to beat myself up over things further, or make you two punching holes in the hull everywhere.” She teased lightly towards both, but the last part more directed towards Spacewarp who she embraced for a few moments.
It wasn’t much perhaps, but it was the best Silentsky felt she could do as an apology and for upsetting the older seeker. Especially since they had begun to become close in a short time.
Before releasing her hold, Silentsky slipped a quick kiss to Spacewarp’s cheek before letting go of the embrace and moving to her feet, “But in all seriousness, I do have to get to my duties soon. I really shouldn’t have one of our superiors coming to track me down for being late.” She spoke softly once more, her face mask covering the lower half of her face with a soft click in place.